Alcee Hastings, an iconic and lightening-rod figure in South Florida for over fifty years has passed away. The legal community in Miami remembers Mr. Hastings as the Federal Judge arrested and charged with bribery. He was acquitted (trivia- who was his defense counsel?) and then impeached and removed from office. The Senate did not bar Mr. Hastings from holding other office and in a fitting coda to his life and career he was elected to congress, becoming the dean of the Florida congressional congregation.
After his removal from the bench, and before he ran for congress Alcee Hastings was the defense attorney in one high-profile Miami corruption case. Name the nickname of the case, and who he represented. The verdict in that multi-defendant case was mixed, but Mr. Hastings walked his client with a closing argument that was labeled brilliant by all who saw it.
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| From Mr. Markus comes a picture of Jeff Weiner, Alcee Hastings, Mr. Markus's father, and future Judge Milt Hirsch |
The full career of Representative Hastings is in this NY Times Obit which includes this wonderful fact:
Gov. Reuben Askew appointed Mr. Hastings to the circuit court of Broward County in 1977; the swearing-in ceremony was held at a high school he had helped desegregate. Two years later, President Carter named him to the federal bench.